THE future of Minehead's Beach Hotel will be decided by a Government appointed inspector after West Somerset Council's planning committee threw out controversial proposals for its conversion to homes and commercial outlets yesterday (Thursday). Businessman Alan Kanerick, a director of Minehead Renaissance Ltd which is behind the scheme, confirmed he would be launching an immediate appeal against the authority's decision. Councillors voted by ten to four to refuse the application, which would have seen the Victorian seafront hotel turned into 14 flats and a mix of restaurants, take-away outlet and convenience store. Officers had previously recommended approval for the development when the application originally came before the committee last December, although councillors refused it. The latest application was submitted unchanged but with Mr Kanerick convinced that he had addressed the reasons put forward for refusal. But yesterday planning manager Christine Miles told the committee that although county highways chiefs had withdrawn any safety concerns over the potential conflict between service vehicles, pedestrians and other road users, two grounds for refusal remained unresolved. These were: l That the application failed to provide an adequate assessment of the impact of the loss of the hotel and the introduction of the take-away outlet on the tourism character of the surrounding area. l That it failed to maximise the potential number of residential buildings, therefore failing to trigger the provision of any affordable housing on the site. Mrs Miles said a 1,269-signature petition against the scheme had been received, along with 48 letters of objection, with three letters in support. She said the loss of the hotel would impact on the tourism character and that existing policies within the Local Plan were robust enough to support that view. And she said she believed it would be possible to "achieve" one or two more flats within the ancillary courtyard buildings, which Mr Kanerick has said are needed for the commercial outlets. Among those opposing the scheme were Minehead Town Council and the Minehead Conservation Society, whose spokeswoman Sally Bainbridge described the Beach as a valuable tourism asset with considerable potential to operate successfully. And campaigner Jenny Lennon-Wood raised the issue of affordable housing, saying Minehead desperately needed affordable homes. "Minehead has more than enough unaffordable seafront flats - we must save the Beach for the town," she said. But Minehead Chamber of Trade chairman Graham Sizer said that although like any resident he regretted the loss of any hotel, he was uncomfortable with some of those protesting. He said the council had no policy within its Local Plan to prevent a change of use and reminded councillors that for decades hotels, large and small, in Minehead had been closed or bulldozed to the ground to make way for residential development. And Rod Price, chief executive of the Richards Hotel Group which owns the Beach, confirmed that the hotel was simply not viable. "The future of the Beach as a hotel is dead," he said. "We are running at less than 60 per cent occupancy and we cannot fill it for ten months of the year." Mr Price said the building required a huge capital outlay which not be justified for its current use, and it was only open at the moment to keep it "lived in" and prevent vandalism. "We are running at the moment with 20 people in a 100-bed hotel. "And as far as the petition is concerned, that leaves around 12,000 people in Minehead who don't mind what happens to the Beach either way." Mr Kanerick reminded councillors that his application had to be considered on planning grounds only and highlighted the case of the Downfield Hotel in Watchet, which had won permission for conversion to residential use on appeal, after a refusal by the council. Mr Kanerick described the request to provide a report on the impact of the loss of the hotel on tourism as "totally unreasonable" and said his proposals for the Beach, which occupied one of the most important sites at the gateway to the town, would do far more for tourism than its present use. But Cllr Roger Webber described any move to approve the scheme as fundamentally against the planning process, with Cllr Keith Parkes raising concerns about parking and crime and disorder issues in relation to the take-away outlet. Meanwhile, Cllr Jenny Hill, who represents Watchet, said the loss of the Downfield had been the worse thing to happen to the town and Minehead equally needed its hotels because so many had closed. Planning committee vice-chairman Cllr Tony Knight, who previously voted in favour of the scheme, said his main concern was affordable housing and if the proposals were to to make all the flats affordable he would "jump at it". But Mr Kanerick won support from Cllrs Mike Gammon and Fred Rawle, who said businesses could not be expected to continue if they were unviable. Cllr Gammon said Dulverton had lost four hotels because of that very reason. "Has it affected tourism? No," he said. "Dulverton is choc-a-bloc with tourists." After the meeting, Mr Kanerick told the Free Press that originally he had intended to have all 14 flats as affordable housing and had agreed a deal with Magna West Somerset Housing Association. But it was dependent on subsidies from the district council, which he had been told could not be forthcoming until after his planning application had been decided.
